English 2092G ~ Special Topics
Jane Austen: Life & Works
Half course; second term.
Instructor: Professor Mary Helen McMurran
Course Description:
Jane Austen’s novels are some of the most loved in all of British Literature. Why do they remain so popular and so important? Austen was not prolific, nor a revolutionary voice in women’s literature, yet she inspired innumerable readers and changed the course of literary history. Her novels are filled with psychological insight and bristling with new narrative techniques which transformed the genre and have become the inspiration for countless television and film adaptations. This course will focus on Austen’s major novels and select film adaptations. We will investigate her literary style and characters, the social and cultural contexts of her fictional world, why her distinctive voice continues to be relevant to readers and viewers today.
Texts:
Northanger Abbey
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Emma
Persuasion